Electric car startup EVelozity has changed its name
to Canoo and announced an ambitious plan to launch four vehicles. EVelozity was founded by the
former chief financial officer of Faraday Future, Stefan Krause, and Ulrich
Kranz, the chief technology officer from Faraday Future.
The company has been quietly developing its electric
vehicle technologies over the past couple of years and in early 2018, recruited
the former chief executive of Opel, Karl-Thomas Neumann, to join its board of
directors.
The Drive reports that the company is in the midst
of developing a skateboard platform that will be used by its future models.
This platform will incorporate the battery pack and electric motor into the
chassis and different bodies will be placed on these underpinnings to create
distinct models. Initial plans from the company call for a total of four models
to be based on this platform, the first of which is scheduled to hit U.S. roads
in 2021. Canoo’s powertrain should be able to offer a 482 km of
range.
In a bid to reduce the costs of its vehicles, Canoo
won’t build its vehicles in-house and will instead rely on a number of contract
manufacturers in the United States and China. Canoo intends on selling its
vehicles through personalized subscription plans which bundle together
insurance and running costs. The startup also wants to operate a number of
ride-hailing and delivery services and will keep its models on the roads and
up-to-date with frequent refurbishments as opposed to replacing them.
While explaining the company’s name change, company
boss Stefan Krause suggested it works well for the vehicles the company intends
on building.
